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Followers of Set
The Followers of Set (or Setites) are a clan of vampires who believe their founder was the Egyptian god Set. Orthodox Setite belief dictates that Set will one day return to rule or consume the world, and devout Setites prepare the way for his resurrection. To this end, the clan remains independent of the Sects of other Kindred, and practice with great skill the arts of corruption, deceit and ancient sorcery. They refer to themselves as the Mesu Bedshet, the "Children of Rebellion". Due to their inherent clan weakness, Followers of Set are extremely susceptible to sunlight (double damage) and have great difficulty acting while under bright light (spotlights, strobes, etc.). On the other hand, Followers of Set are curiously immune to Basilisk's poison.1 History In the first Nights, the Clan was fairly centered around its Antediluvian and, not surprisingly, Egypt. Many different tales are told about his divinity and how he was cursed by Ra in his struggle against his rival Osiris, whom he eventually managed to kill, and his abandonment by his disciples and fellow Antediluvians. In the manner of the Path of Typhon, all these accounts are taken for true, because limitation to just one version is just another sign of the influence of Ra and Osiris in this world. It can be said that Set's get had a fairly great influence on Egypt as a whole during the days of pharaonic Egypt, although his efforts were always undermined by the Osirian League under the leadership of his eternal enemy Horus. Set himself guided his Clan from his great temple in Ombos and sometimes got involved personally with dethroning pharaohs who were to entrenched by Ma'at and the schemes of the Aeons. In this way, the Followers of Set established their hold on the lands of Egypt on several times: First during the reign of the Hyksos (in an alliance with the Lasombra), then during the 19th dynasty under Ramesses and during the hellenestic Age under Alexander the Great. During the reign of Rome, the Setites flourished in countless cults among the children of Seth and of Caine, promising ancient secrets and shaping the mindset of their cultists to resist the snares of Ma'at. All these efforts were delivered a serious blow when Set himself disappeared in 33 CE (the alleged year of Christ's crucification, as some Setites notice). After the departure of the founder, earthquakes shattered Egypt and many of the old temples sunk and became lost, often taking many of the slumbering methuselahs of the clan with them. However, Nakhthorheb and the remaining Hierophants took the reins of the clan, ruling the progeny of Set in his absence. Dark Ages Setites were rare in Dark Medieval Europe, spending most of their time in Egypt. Islamic Setites were known as Walid Set in the lands of Arabia and North Africa, and spent much of their time fighting to keep the influence of Europe out of their lands. Although they claimed to dominate Egypt, they actually only had a few holdings that could rightfully be called theirs; the rest belonged to the other bay't and the Garou of the Sahara. The clan they struggled against the most was the one with the greatest power over the Islamic regions and the Ashirra: the Banu Haqim. A temporary treaty was reached, but relations remained uneasy between the two for years afterward. The Clan had an deep emnity with the Ashirra, who viewed their idolatrous religion as blasphemy, while the Setites saw the faith that the islamic vampires endorsed as a stifling of the natural order Set had sought to restore. The advent of learning during the Renaissance only increased the Setites possibilities to subvert the european vampires. Gaining advantage from the trade with goods from the orient and the New World, as well as the new "leisure class" that arose in the cities, the customers for Set's teachings. The expansion of the Ottoman Empire also provided cover for them to travel into Europe and slave trade remained one of the most profitable business from the clan. Victorian Age The Setites reveled in the Victorian Age: As ancient knowledge was demanded more and more in kindred society, the Setites' clientele rose more and more, as many kindred discovered the usefulness of their bargains. The Setite presence in Camarilla cities during this time was increasingly high and some princes allowed them even in their retinue. And within the strict puritan taboos of society, the increasing interest in occultism and the rising opium trade, corrupting mortals to the service of Set was easier than ever. Despite the occupation of their ancestral homeland, the Setites were able to maintain a great deal of their influence in Egypt and some, like Izzat al-Khunzir, were actively opposing the foreign princes that occupied their ancient cities. Also, the clan expanded heavily into America in this time in order to corrupt and influence the young government of the States. Final Nights In the modern nights many Setites see the signs of Gehenna as portents that Set will soon arise, and indeed many Gehenna scenarios involve his return. They remain staunchly independent, but since they must still acquire power and wealth to ease the return of their god, they have ventured far from Egypt. Modern Setites frequently live in Camarilla (or, less often, Sabbat) cities, seducing and corrupting other Kindred, staying outside sect politics except to serve their own ends. Few among the other clans trust them, but they have many secrets and are often able to infiltrate a Prince's court by trading information or promising favours. Such deals generally work out in the Setite's favour. Organization Setite organization is mostly local, with a single temple or network of cults representing a city’s Serpent presence. Setites in the cities rarely scheme among each other, preferring to face outward threats in unity rather than the schismatic self-interest of the Sects. However, whispers persist among outsiders about a massive temple devoted to Set located somewhere in Africa, ruled by terrible Methuselahs who claim to be the childer of Set himself. The Hierophants or Eternals are the leaders of the Followers of Set in the absence of their founder. They are the oldest of their clan, who have known Set personally and acted as his stewards in the temples dedicated to the god. Clan Variants The Followers of Set are not as uniform as their name make observers to believe. They have found that the best way to preach their doctrine and philosophy in certain lands was to use parallels to each culture’s indigenous myths and legends. In many of the religions around the world, Setites found Gods that bore a striking resemblance to the Lord of Storms, and proclaimed that these were in fact “masks” of Set himself. When contact was lost to the original Temple, several these lines proclaimed themselves independent and only in the Modern Nights, both parties, using mortal infrastructure, communicate again with each other. Daitya The Daitya are a heretical bloodline, whose founder traveled from Egypt to India in pursuit of ancient mystical knowledge and for the hunt of the Children of Osiris who were rumored to have fled into the Himalayas.3 The bloodline was nearly exterminated during the reign of the Ashirra, who saw them not only as heathens, but as demon-worshippers. Only a grudging alliance with the Trimira during the Victorian Age saved their dwindling numbers from extinction. Certain broods and temples among the Daitya specialize in different skills, like a "yoga of illusion" that they call Raktamaya, which includes Chimerstry, Conjuration (Sadyojatavidya), Obfuscation, Transmutation (Rasayana), thaumaturgic rituals (tantras), hypnotism, and even prestidigitation.5 The Daitya revere Shiva, and claim leadership of all vampires who worship Shiva. They adopted Shiva the Destroyer, Rudra the god of storms and hunters, and the serpentdemon of drought - called Vritra - as the local analogs of Set. Eventually the cult of Shiva completely absorbed the cult of Rudra, and Vritra simply dropped out of Setite practice. The Daitya see their caste duty as a strange inverse of mortal Brahminism. As demons, they must fight the gods and strive to overthrow the moral order of the world. As Brahmins, however, they must strive to keep their fellow vampires within their own particular caste duties as murderers, tricksters, desecrators of sacred rites and all the other abhorrent roles assigned to demons. Other vampires defy that claim. Nevertheless, their intrinsic rank as Brahmins grants all Daitya considerable authority among India’s undead.6 Daitya perceive the current world as fundamentally flawed, so they seek to reboot it; the most fanatic among the Daitya claim that the means of doing so is to push the world over the brink into a nadir of purest evil, so that Shiva fully awakens to destroy the current world with his third eye, thereby setting the stage for the next cycle of existence7. They defy the Elders of Egypt and demand treatment as a full-fledged and independent Clan. The Naktanchara lineage of the bloodline is rejected since they converted to Buddhism and began defying the caste system of Indian kindred.8 Serpents of the Light The Serpents of the Light are another heretical Setite bloodline — essentially "Setite antitribu" — who practice voodoun. The Serpents of the Light began as a Caribbean branch of the West African Setites. According to the Cobras’oral tradition, the first Setites came to the West Indies more than 300 years ago, in the heyday of the slave trade. They say that a mortal cultist, captured and sold as a slave, became a sailor and returned to Africa. He pleaded with his undead masters to succor his fellow tribesmen who were suffering and dying on the sugar plantations and mills. The elders of the cult agreed that the cause was just. One vampire-priest smuggled himself across the Atlantic on a slave ship; it arrived in Hispaniola with the slaves freed and the white men in chains. The great priest led a furious slave revolt. The Europeans crushed the revolt - but not the cult that led the revolt, nor the vampire priest. The great priest now sleeps in the earth, but when he awakens he will lead all the faithful back to Africa. His lineage preserves the cult until that night. Their modern incarnation originated in the 1960s when a group of independent Setites in Haiti formed an alliance with the newly-arrived Sabbat, ignoring orders from senior Setites to have nothing to do with the Sect. The Serpents (or "Cobras") are committed to combating the Antediluvians, and believe Set to be among their enemies; they are considered traitors by other Setites. Apart from their ideological and spiritual beliefs, however, there are no significant differences between Cobras and their parent clan: they learn the same Disciplines, and share the same weakness to light. The Serpents of the Light believe in a supreme Creator deity, but (like other African and Voodoo faiths) also believe that the Supreme Deity does not interact with the world in any way. The bloodline-cult’s leaders have no problem with the myth of Caine. They recognize him as the king from their own origin myth, in a strange syncretism with the Book of Nod and other santeria elements. The Cobras interpret other Antediluvians as brothers and sisters of the king, who persuaded him to share his stolen power but now seek his death and fight amongst themselves. The Cobras accept that the Antediluvians really exist and will devour all their descendants when they awaken. Since they do notwant tobecome an ancient vampire’s dinner, they help the Sabbat hunt the Antediluvians and their presumed minions, including their parent clan. The four elders who hold the highest initiation within the bloodline are called the empereurs; the last three initiations within the line come only with the consent of all the empereurs together. The leader of a Cobra cell is called the president, while a member in good standing is called a bête sereine or “Serene Beast.” A single cell is called a shanpwel. When a new cell forms, an empereur sends a miniature coffin emblazoned with a silver serpent encircling a golden star, the madouk d’estoile, for their shrine. Often, Sabbat packs with vampires of other lineages under Cobra guidance come to accept their branch of Noddism as doctrine. Tlacique The Tlacique reside in Latin America and are believed to be descended from the Followers of Set. Rather than Set, these Mesoamerican vampires venerate Tezcatlipoca, the god of the darkness and sorcery. This variant possesses Protean instead of the clan discipline of Serpentis, often taking the shape of a jaguar rather than a wolf. They also practice a unique type of shamanistic blood sorcery known as Nahuallotl. When European vampires arrived in Mexico, they found the Tlacique openly ruling over the Aztecs, Inca and other civilizations as blood-thirsty gods who demanded human sacrifices. At first the Jaguars welcomed the Camarilla, but this turned to resentment as the Spaniards destroyed the civilizations that worshiped the Tlacique. Used to ruling over mortals, the Tlacique couldn't understand that the Camarilla didn't do the same. They allied with the Sabbat, working together to drive the Camarilla out of Mexico. But while the Sabbat gladly adopted the bloodiest elements of Tlacique ritual, they lacked the spiritual beliefs the Tlacique cherished. Soon the Sabbat turned against them too. In modern nights, the Tlacique are widely believed to be extinct by the few Kindred outside of the bloodline who even remember their existence. However, a handful of bitter survivors persist on the fringes of vampire society, scattered from the jungles and mountains of South America to barrios in the American Southwest. They Embrace exclusively from Native American groups, still resenting the European destruction of their homelands. Increasingly, they are forming an alliance with the Pisanob Necromancers. Some Setites doubt the relation between Set and the Tlacique. If, they argue, the Tlacique are indeed lost descendants of the Lord of Storms, why do they not manifest his personal Discipline? As few Tlacique are around and even fewer are willing to reveal themselves to foreigners, young Setites can only speculate and wonder if they have mistakenly adopted some obscure and dangerously ambitious Gangrel bloodline9. Warrior Setites Claiming to play the original role of the clan as enforcers of Set, these Warrior Setites act as bodyguards and assassins for the main clan. They are proud and brutal soldiers for Set, and are perfectly willing to go into battle to back up their subtler brethren. A mortal Embraced by a warrior Setite becomes a “normal” member of the line (that is, learning Obfuscate as a Clan Discipline) unless trained as a warrior from childe-hood. The line is therefore an example of how training and ideology can change the basic makeup of a vampire’s Clan. Walid Set The Walid Set are the arabic branch of the Setite clan. They are not a deviation in faith or blood from the original clan, as they still worship the vampire-god Set, and are frequently at odds with the Ashirra. Their greatest opponents in those lands, however, are the Assamite Viziers. Culture The mission of the Followers of Set can be stated in a single word: corruption. They seek to subvert and destroy whatever is good, noble, safe or beautiful within both Kindred and mortal society. They are plotters without peer, with an unequalled genius for misdirection and temptation. Their favourite weapons include drugs, sex, money, power and vice in all its aspects. But for most of the Followers of Set, this corruption is just a means to an end. They believe in a radical split between the divine, eternal soul and the corrupt, transitory world and body. The laws of their faith say that deep down, the soul knows it does not belong in a prison of matter. Anything that distracts the soul from this knowledge and ties it to the world must be a trap - and if the world is a prison, then the gods must be its jailers. To achieve liberation, a soul must shed all the false doctrines, cravings and habits that bind it and blind it. Such self-awareness cannot come from mere argument or faith. Only direct experience of the most extreme sort can break the hold of the gods over the soul and allow liberation. Through these experiences, the Setites believe they can achieve truly divine power over the world and liberate themselves from every physical and spiritual constraint, as they already have taken the first steps out of the prison when they received the Embrace. As the oldest of the four independent clans, with a lineage directly traceable to a mighty Antediluvian (though there are those who dispute the clan’s account of its own history), the Followers of Set are not without respect among the Kindred. At one point, after long and divisive debate, they were invited to join the Camarilla. This invitation was, by and large, ignored by the Setites (to the great relief of many in the Camarilla). Nonetheless, the Camarilla, and sometimes even the Sabbat, often seek out the Followers of Set in an effort to secure their aid in some complex intrigue or another. For this reason, the Setites are generally regarded as a necessary evil within Cainite society. In recent centuries, the Setites have achieved notable success in the Caribbean, where they are in direct control of many of the most feared and powerful Haitian secret societies and Jamaican posses. These organizations, in turn, control much of the international drug trade. The Setites are also rumored to have absolute control over at least one Near Eastern terrorist group. Cults The Followers of Set’s emphasis on personal revelation generates dozens of little cults. Setite groups also emerge through interactions with the local culture. Put simply, Setites are not all a bunch of Egyptian migrants. Since their doctrine is flexible to begin with, Setites easily compromise with local cultures, adding still more diversity to the clan. A typical cult consists of a “Founding Temple” and several lesser temples scattered hither and yon. Egypt holds most of the really old and prestigious Founding Temples. A powerful cult’s Hierophant, or senior priest, oversees the Founding Temple. The chief priests of important daughter temples are simply called High Priests. A priest who manages a small temple by herself bears no special title that the rest of the clan will honor. Known cults are: * The Cult of Typhon Trismegistus * The Children of Damballah * The Cult of Taweret * The Cohort of Wepwawet * The Children of Judas * The Hall of Jormungandr * The House of Eclipse * The Abd'al-Sobek * The Sisterhood of Sekhmet * The Church of the Black Magdalene Embraces Prospective childer for the Followers of Set often spend some time involved with a Setite cult, so they’re indoctrinated in the mysteries of the Clan before becoming one of its Kindred. They may come from any cultural origin, though many are outsiders, loners, or otherwise marginalized by society, which is often what led them to the forbidden fruits offered by the cult of Set in the first place. Interestingly, Setites count their Generation from Set, so their generation is often stated to be two steps lower than the standard counting method that derives vampires from Caine (a Fourth-Generation Methuselah would be noted as a member of the Second Generation within the Clan).